Lucifer Saved, Lion & Unicorn

By Ewan Stuart

I find that theatre in small spaces tends to rush a bit. As the space gets tighter the pace gets quicker, and everything can be slightly overwhelming. Lucifer Saved at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre kicks off in that very familiar vein. If there was a build up, or a moment for the audience to tune into what’s happening it passed by in the blink of an eye. A lot of the early story was lost in a whirlwind of energy, as it sprinted to get through the introduction.

It’s worth mentioning early on that Lucifer Saved is a highly stylized piece of work. Now these things tend to go one of two ways: style, form and content unite to give something much greater than the sum of it’s part and richer for it’s stylish originality; or everything conspires against content, with meaning hidden beneath layers of style, descending into incoherent rambling and nonsense. Writer Peter Oswald (whose Mary Stuart transferred from the Donmar Warehouse to the West End, and Broadway) appears to have hit some middle ground; his script is littered with occasional moments of poetic beauty and razor wit, but just as heavily demonstrates a lack of cohesion and feels very tired. That’s not to say the show is without merit, as there are some really quite accomplished performances here. Oswald himself (taking the lead role of Lucian Willow) has a quiet gravity about him, and Mark Gillham is exciting to watch as the frustrated and mercurial ‘Wulf’. But it’s Alison Halstead who saves the entire event. Coherent script or not Halstead is immensely watchable. She makes Circus Ring Master Reginalda the star attraction bristling with flare and specificity. Halstead has genuine presence on stage and makes bold and entertaining choices, and she uses the various rhetoric and nonsense in Oswald’s script to great effect - So even if the plot feels a bit lost on you, you can take solace that there are some solid performers to keep you entertained.

I overheard one young lady leaving the theatre speculate “The Circus [at the end] was the best bit. I understood that.” And I’m inclined to agree with her, perhaps the pace was too fast, perhaps the script was too poetic, and I’m sure that at times Oswald is being deliberately nonsensical, but there just wasn’t enough sense for me to latch onto here, and then that leaves you asking the uncomfortable question, “Why am I being told this story at all?”

The best theatre I see affects and changes me, and thereby changes the world I live in. It gives me new perspectives, challenging or re-affirming my beliefs. It could be the simplest of fables, or the most complex of conundrums but it informs, educates and entertains me. It makes me feel like I NEED it. Lucifer Saved combines a provocative title and an enticing premise. In the programme notes Oswald says “[I wanted] to write a play about a British officer in World War 2 committing a war crime.” In this era of Chelsea (nee Bradley) Manning it could be a massively pertinent topic, but his tale of friendship, love, memory and possession is too lacking in scope. It forgoes looking at the impact of such atrocities, the causes and psychology of the perpetrators, and the cost paid by those left behind. Now that is a tale I think we could all benefit from.

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